Airship



C. J. COOKE.

AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13, 1919.

, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

n I N a; 5 4

MIA/E8858 7 mn/mro'n ELI (00% non/ms Patented Aug. 15, 1922 UNITEDSTATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES JOHN COOKE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

AIRSHE.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. Coon, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Vashington, in the District of Columbia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Airships, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in airships, of the lighter thanair type, and it consists in the combinations, constructions andarrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my inventionis to provide a device by means of which thedecrease in weight carried by a gas bag, which ordinarily occurs fromthe consumption of fuel in the internal combustion engine by means ofwhich the air ship is propelled, is compensated, either wholly or inpart, by the condensation of the aqueous portions of the products ofcombustion, these condensed port-ions being conserved as ballast.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel process forproducing ballast from the products of combustion of the engine.

One difliculty in operating airships of the lighter than air type,especially when long voyages are to be made, lies in the fact that 1t isoften necessary to descend to the ground to obtain ballast to com ensatefor the loss of weight resulting rom the consumption of fuel in theinternal combustion engine by means of which the airship is driven. Thisresults in a 10% of time and also in a loss of gas, since in order todescend it is necessary to let out a portion of the gas.

' -plication, in which- The present invention is designed to obviate thenecessity of descending for ballast, so that a longer flight may be madewith a given amount of gas and a given amount of fuel, than ordinarily.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming partof this ap- Figure 1 is a view of an airshi havin ballast producingmeans constructed accorxfi in to my invention;

Tigure 2 is a modified form of the device; and L Figure 8 is a detailedview of a condenser.

tions (not shown). I it will be observed, control the course of theproducts, of combustion.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t nt d Aug. 15, 1922.

Application filed February 18, 1919. Serial 110 276311.

balloonettes, whose purpose will be explained later. A car, or basket, 3is suspended from the gas bag in any suitable manner, the suspendingmeansbeing omitted for the sake of clearness. The car 3 carries aninternal combustion engine 4 which drives ,a propeller 5. A fuel tank 6communicates with a carbureter 7 which is connected with the engine inthe usual manner. An exhaust pipe 8 communicates with a condenser 9 bymeans of which the aqueous portions of the exhaust gases may becondensed, the water passing by a drain ipe 10 into a receiver orstorage tank 11. he exhaust pipe 8 has a branch which communicates witha blower or pump 12, the latter being in communication with theballoonettes 2 by means of the pipes 13.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, theoperation thereof may be thoroughly understood. As the fuel is used upin the internal combustion engine, theproducts of combustion passthrough the condenser, the gaseous portions escaping at the outlet 14,that is tosay, the uncondensable gaseous portions such'as carbondioxide, while the aqueous portions are condensed and are led into thereceiver 11 where they may be retained as ballast.

If it should be desired to heat the gas in the gas bag 1, then a portionof the proby the engine through-any suitable connec- The valves 8' and8" I nFigure 2, I have shown a construction in which the bag 1' isprovided with the balloonettes 2' and also has an auxiliary chamber 16which contains hydrogen. The chamber 16 communicates by a ipe 17 with apipe 18 leading into the inta e manifold of the engine 4'. In this formof the device,

\. the fuel may be taken from the fuel tank Q I I 1,42 ,047

6 through the carbureter 7, or hydrogen may be admitted as a fuel andmixed with air coming through the air inlet 19. In this instance, wherehydrogen is taken from the chamber 16 to be used as a fuel, there is athe device. The normal operation of the apparatus shown in Figure 2 isthe same as that shown in Figure 1, that is to say, under normalcircumstances the fuel is taken from the tank 6' and the aqueousproducts of combustion are condensed .to conserve the ballast. I

It often happens that it is necessary to quickly add to or decrease thelifting efi'ect and the form of the device shown in Figure 2 is designedto accomplish this quickly and positively.

Consider the case where the airship encounters a warm stratum of airwhich would tend to expand the gas field and thus to increase thelifting power. In such instance the fuel tank 6'wouldbe cut off andhydrogen would be admitted from the receiver 16 through the pipe 17 andmixed with air as fuel for the engine. The consumption of hydrogendecreases the lifting power and the condensation of the aqueous productsof combustion adds weight, thereby tending to compensate for theincrease in lifting power due to the presence of'heated stratum. On theother hand, if a cold stratum should be encountered, then the fuel istaken from the tank 6. The products of combustion are passed into theb-alloonettes 2, thereby heatingthe asin the gas bag and increasing theliftlng power. If necessary, the

ballast, which has been previously stored in the tank 11' may be letout, thereby adding still more to the lifting efiect and bringing theballoon in "equilibrium.

. In addition to the advantages set forth,-

the provision of the receiver 16 will enable the airship to be propelledfor a greater length of'time than if the liquid fuel in the tank 6' wereonly available for propulsion purposes, for, when the latter isexhausted,

the hydrogen in the receiver 16 may be used to propel the device, herebygiving a greater range than ordinarily.

The condenser shown in Figure 3 is of the preferred type, although anysuitable condenser may be used for the purpose. In Figure 3 it will beseen that the pipe 8 leads to a header 21 which is connected by pipes 22with a header 23 having an outlet pipe 24. An air intake-tube 25communicates with the casing 9 while the outlet tube 26 is disposed atthe opposite end and en closes the pipe 24. The products of combustionpass through the pipe 8', thence into the header 21, and through thetubes 22 into the header 23. Here the aqueous portions are condensed andpass by the pipe 10 into the receiver 11. A drain pipe '2? is providedwith a valve 28 for lettlng out ballast when desired. The cold aircoming in through the inlet pipe 25 chills the pipes 22 to condense theaqueous portions of the products of combustion, and the uncondensableproducts which pass out through the pipe 24 entrain the air, thusdrawing it through the intake pipe 25 at a rapid rate.

It will be observed that the condensers in both forms of the device, arein such a position that they will be cooled by air from the propellers.These condensers, however, may be placed at points which are exposed tothe rush of air occasioned by the forward movement of the airship, andneed not necessarily be immediately behind the propellers. Provision ismade in each instance for the emptying of the ballast, the meansinFlgure 1 being indicated at 30.

I am aware that it has been proposed to pass products of combustion intoballoonettes for the purpose of heatlng the gas in the main gas bag.This,-however, does not constitute my invention. The invention hes,rather, in the condensation of the aqueous products of combustion andthe retention of the condensed products as ballast, while permittin theuncondensable products to escape. condensing the aqueous products, theloss in theweight of fuel may be compensated, thereby permitting amaintenance of the equilibrium, i. e., the sustaining forces so that theairship may remain for a longer time in the air than where suchproductsof combustion are permitted to escape freely. I claim:

1. The combination-.- in an airship, an internal combustion engine, witha propeller and a liquid fuel sup-ply; a gas bag w th sustainin gas, anda separate receiver with combustible gas; and connection wlth regulatingmeans for cutting off the liquid fuel and opening the gas supply fromthe receiver to the engine when the airship encounters a warm airstratum, to thereby reduce the total volume of expansible gas.

2. The combination in an airship, an internal combustion engine, with apropeller and a liquid fuel supply; a gas bag with sustaining gas, and aseparate receiver with combustible gas; connection with regulatlng meansfor cutting of the liquid fuel an opening the gas supply from thereceiver to the engine when the airship encounters a warm air stratum,to thereby reduce the total volume of expansible gas, and balloonettesin the gas bag in controllable communication with the engine, infiatablewith exhaust gas to heat the bag gas when a cold stratum is encountered.

3. In combination with the internal combustion engine and propeller ofan airship,

